For the art world’s new guard, whispering in a gallery or hammering at auction isn’t the only way to sell a masterpiece. Online art businesses are cropping up, and collectors are responding—buying art via their smart phones and otherwise revolutionizing a rarified brick-and-mortar industry.

The new issue of WSJ. Magazine profiles three art startups making inroads online through sales and auctions: Artspace, Artsy and Paddle8. Offering works from Picasso prints to Damien Hirst dots, these sites are looking to innovate in an art industry that has largely stuck to the same formula for decades.

A lot of money is at stake: Last year’s online art sales tallied $870 million, according to a recent report by Hiscox, which predicted those sales would jump to $2.1 billion by 2017.

About Speakeasy

Speakeasy is a blog covering media, entertainment, celebrity and the arts. The publication is produced by Barbara Chai and Jonathan Welsh with contributions from the Wall Street Journal staff and others. Write to us at speakeasy@wsj.com or follow us on Twitter at @WSJSpeakeasy or individually @barbarachai.